At loggerheads over gunny sacksChandigarh, January 30The Haryana Government and the
Union Textile Ministry are at loggerheads over the former’s decision
to purchase gunny sacks from private suppliers for the coming wheat
procurement season. Official sources here said the Jute Corporation
of India, which functions under the Union Textile Ministry,
recently reduced the minimum support price of jute with an aim to
jeopardise the state government’s deal with the suppliers.

Congress
leaders form ginger groupGurgaon, January 30The flip-flopping by the Haryana
unit of the Congress on the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal project and the
factionalism indulged in by its top members has forced some of its
middle rung leaders of South Haryana to form a ginger group to act as a
sobering influence in the organisation.

IT
Dept’s bid to be people-friendlyFatehabad, January 30The Chief Commissioner of Income
Tax, Haryana, Ms Baljit Bains, today said she has been endeavouring to
provide a people-friendly face to her department in the state. Ms Bains
was talking to mediapersons in the local Income Tax office here today.

Many taken
ill after consuming flourHisar, January 30A number of residents of the Govind
Nagar area here fell ill after consuming flour allegedly supplied by a
ration depot holder of M C colony. They were admitted to various
hospitals here and the condition of all was stated to be out of danger,
police sources said today.

Bid to
kidnap childKarnal, January 30Prompt action by the Karnal police
foiled the bid to kidnap a 3-year-old boy Manat from a farmhouse in
Kulveri village, near here last night.

Computers,
ACs stolenKaithal, January 30Computers and airconditioners worth
lakhs of rupees were allegedly stolen from two computer centres here
late last night.

Stories from Haryana towns falling in the
National Capital Region are put in NCR Tribune.

Teachers
hold protestKaithal, January 30A large number of teachers
organised a protest outside the Mini Secretariat here today against
the policy of rationalisation, “untimely” transfers and
non-regularisation of the services of ad hoc teachers.

Ex-municipal official
arrestedAmbala, January 30The State Vigilance Bureau arrested a former municipal official here today. The bureau had registered a case against two municipal officials, the Chairman of the council, three councillors and four shopkeepers under Sections, 409, 418, 420, 447, 448, 120 IPC and 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act on November 19.

Chandigarh, January 30
The Haryana Government and the
Union Textile Ministry are at loggerheads over the former’s decision
to purchase gunny sacks from private suppliers for the coming wheat
procurement season.

Official sources here said the Jute Corporation
of India (JCI), which functions under the Union Textile Ministry,
recently reduced the minimum support price of jute with an aim to
jeopardise the state government’s deal with the suppliers.
Explaining the tussle they said the expenditure incurred on account of
the sacks was reimbursed to the state government by the Centre and
added that the payment was made on the basis of the rate of sacks
fixed by the Director-General, Supply and Disposal (DGSD), or the
actual price of the sacks, whichever was less.

Following the state
government’s decision to deviate from the practice of purchasing
bags from the Central Government agency, DGSD, the JCI had at first
retaliated by coming out with a directive, saying that the money spent
by a state for purchasing the sacks would be reimbursed by the Centre
only if the jute used for manufacturing was purchased by the private
suppliers by paying the minimum support price of jute fixed by the
Union Government. The move discouraged the private suppliers who
procured the raw material by paying a price which was lower than the
MSP and as a result no tender was received by the Haryana Government
when it invited proposals from private traders in November.

Tenders
were again invited in December and this time the state government
plugged the earlier gaps and stated in the advertisement that jute
must be procured by the traders by paying the MSP. Seven parties,
including a government agency, were awarded the contract for supplying
2.5 lakh bales (one bale contains 400 bags of 50 kg capacity each) at
the price of Rs 250 crore.

However, the JCI has again stepped in to
scuttle the Haryana Government move by reducing the MSP of jute on
Tuesday. As a result of the JCI decision, the price of the bags will
go down and consequently make the traders fidgety about accepting
Haryana’s proposal. State government officials claimed that there
was no way the traders could withdraw from the deal now as it was
mentioned in the agreement that price of the sacks would be in
accordance with whatever would be the MSP of jute.

In fact more than
one lakh bags supplied by the private traders reportedly had already
arrived in the state. It is, however, being apprehended by the
official circles here that the JCI will not leave the matter there and
may come up with something more to play a spoilsport in Mr
Chautala’s attempt to bypass the DGSD for the supply of sacks. The
Chief Minister, a source here claimed, had also shot off an angry
letter to the Prime Minister complaining against the JCI.

According to information received today, Hanuman of Chautala village was arrested by the police on August 7, 2002, for allegedly possessing 5 kg opium. The matter was taken up in court, and it was found that the SI/SHO and the Tehsildar had conspired to implicate him in a false case, as no such seizure was made by the police. The case was, in fact, used as a tool to pressurise the son of the accused namely, Satpal, to abandon his tenancy rights over land measuring 75 kanals, which was earlier owned by Ms Bakhtawari, a big land-owner. But the land was subsequently purchased by Ms Rami Devi and others having close links with the leadership of the state.

After about 16 months' trial, the court found Hanuman innocent and falsely implicated in the case. It was mentioned that even the official record was manipulated by the then Tehsildar-cum-Executive Magistrate Satbir Singh and SHO Dabwali Rajbir Singh. The court of Virender Singh, Additional Sessions Judge, observed in his judgment that both these officials had misused their lawful authority. The judge convicted both for the commission of an offence punishable under section 58 of the NDPS Act 1985 and ordered their arrest. The court also ordered the two officials to be produced before the court on of February 8 for hearing on the quantum of sentence.

Gurgaon, January 30
The flip-flopping by the Haryana unit of the Congress on the Sutlej Yamuna
Link (SYL) canal project and the factionalism indulged in by its top members has forced some of its middle rung leaders of South Haryana to form a ginger group to act as a sobering influence in the organisation.

This group plans to network the party men who have been forced on the sidelines in the Congress on account of the
factionalism in the party and to espouse the issues afflicting the common man. It will hold a public meeting of representatives of people and some prominent persons of South Haryana and other areas discriminated against by successive state governments on February 1 at Rohtak.

A former organising secretary of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), Mr Vinay
Rathee, who is among the organisers of the meeting, said a large number of workers were feeling neglected on account of the “personalised” politics of the main leaders of the party. He said the ginger group would strengthen the party by trying to influence the main leaders to be more inclusive in their approach.

While this group is critical of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala on the way he handled the SYL issue, it is also miffed over the way some Congress leaders tried to politicise the issue for their own “ulterior motives”.

The group members are of the view that the successive governments have been discriminating against the areas of South Haryana and some other areas on the distribution of water in the state as well as the “distribution” of government jobs and developmental projects.

Fatehabad, January 30
The Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Haryana, Ms Baljit Bains, today said she has been endeavouring to provide a people-friendly face to her department in the state. Ms Bains was talking to mediapersons in the local Income Tax office here today.

She has come here for inspection and review of the performance of the department.

Ms Bains said the department had witnessed an increase of more than 100 per cent in revenue generation in the state in the past three years. Against the income of Rs 390 crore three years ago, the target this year was Rs 837 crore.

She said that the cases of refund were being settled on a priority basis.

To generate public confidence in the functioning of the department, it had been issuing Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) on a war footing. She said PAN cards had been issued to 96 per cent of the applicants and the work was in progress at a good pace. Information regarding the PAN had been supplied to all income tax offices on CDs and anybody could get an authentic certificate of his PAN from any office.

She said that as Haryana is predominantly an agricultural economy, the number of taxpayers was less as compared to the total population.

Hisar, January 30
A number of residents of the Govind Nagar area here fell ill after consuming flour allegedly supplied by a ration depot holder of M C colony. They were admitted to various hospitals here and the condition of all was stated to be out of danger, police sources said today.

Around 140 bags of flour were distributed among the people of below poverty line through the depot. After consuming the flour, several persons started vomiting. A deputation of residents, including some women, met officers of the food and Supply Department. Officers concerned went to the locality and collected 105 bags of flour.

Deputy Commissioner Dipti Umashanker said proper action would be taken against the persons found guilty in this connection.
PTI

Karnal, January 30
Prompt action by the Karnal police foiled the bid to kidnap a 3-year-old boy Manat from a farmhouse in Kulveri village, near here last night.

Mr Parshant Kumar Aggarwal, district police chief, said that within six hours, Manat was rescued by the police and restored to his parents.

According to information, Manat along with his sister were sleeping in a room in their house when at about 12.45 a.m., a person pounced on him and took him out of the room. On this, the child started crying. His father, Mr Bhavnit Singh Kalyana, heard the child’s cries and ran towards his room. Finding the child missing from his bed, he rushed out of the house and saw a dark figure running away with the child. The distraught father ran after the person but he sped towards the fields.

Mr Singh immediately informed the police, which cordoned off the area within half an hour and launched a hunt along with the help of villagers. The kidnapper left the boy in a small room at some distance from the farmhouse of Mr Bhavnit Singh and fled in darkness. The boy was rescued and restored to his parents.

Kaithal, January 30
A large number of teachers organised a protest outside the Mini Secretariat here today against the policy of rationalisation, “untimely” transfers and non-regularisation of the services of ad hoc teachers.

The teachers sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the City Magistrate.

Earlier, the teachers assembled outside the office of the District Primary Education Officer (DPEO) here.

Ambala, January 30
The State Vigilance Bureau arrested a former municipal official here today. The bureau had registered a case against two municipal officials, the Chairman of the council, three councillors and four shopkeepers under Sections, 409, 418, 420, 447, 448, 120 IPC and 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act on November 19.

The case was registered for granting permission to four shopkeepers on the DC road at the cantonment here to enhance the height of their shops and reduction in rents. The Chairman of the council, Mr Shankar
Dass, and three councillors have already filed anticipatory bail application in the court of the
Additional Sessions Judge, Mr
B.M. Bedi, a few days ago, on which the order of the court is expected by tomorrow. The four shopkeepers have also filed a bail application in this court today on which the hearing is fixed for tomorrow.

According to vigilance sources, the nabbed municipal official was a building inspector at that time when the permission for the repair of the shops was granted.

No senior officer of the Vigilance Bureau was
available to confirm the arrest of the official.

Chandigarh,
January 30
Allowing a petition filed by Haryana’s former Chief
Minister Bansi Lal, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today quashed a
notification appointing a commission of Inquiry under Justice G.S.
Chahal for looking into the implementation of the prohibition policy
by the HVP-BJP regime and its subsequent withdrawal in 1998.

In his
petition, the former Chief Minister had also sought the quashing of a
show cause notice issued to him on May 2 last year. He had claimed
that the commission, under political pressure exerted by Chief
Minister Om Prakash Chautala and son, Ajay, had manipulated affidavits
and statements of rival party activists from Bhiwani, Mahendragarh and
Gurgaon. His counsel had claimed that in most of the cases the
deponents were not even aware of the purpose behind procuring the
affidavits and had simply penned down their signatures or thump
impressions on blank paper.

Chandigarh, January 30
The Budget session of Haryana Assembly will start here on March 5. This was disclosed by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, during a meeting of Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police here on Tuesday, official sources here said and added that a formal announcement regarding the session would be made after the decision was approved by the state Cabinet.

Fatehabad, January 30
Rich tributes were paid to Mahatma Gandhi on his martyrdom day here today. At various
programmes organised in the district, functionaries of the administration and leaders of political parties remembered Mahatma Gandhi.

At a programme organised in the local mini secretariat, the Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyaan, the SP Mr K.K. Rao, the ADC, Mr C.R. Rana, and the SDM, Mr Yogesh Bhardwaj, showered flowers on the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. A programme was also organised in the local Zila Parishad office.

Chandigarh, January 30
The Haryana Government will disburse on January 31 the pay and allowances for January, 2003, to its employees and pension to its pensioners as well as others who are drawing their pension from the Haryana Government Treasuries in view of gazetted holidays falling on February 1 and
2.

Chandigarh, January 30
Haryana Governor Babu Parmanand today
released the leprosy seal to launch its sale on the occasion of
Anti-Leprosy Day, which coincides with the death anniversary of
Mahatma Gandhi here at Raj Bhavan.